


The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine

by RedQueenMiku



Category: Durarara!!, The Amazing World of Gumball, Undertale, Vocaloid
Genre: Amenhemoft, Moon Watterson, S.T.O.R.K. AU, Sakura Orihara, Skull Watterson, tags will be updated as more content is added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 10:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18892513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedQueenMiku/pseuds/RedQueenMiku
Summary: The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine is an incredible machine capable of creating children from thin air, assigning them to random parents. These are the stories of those children, especially including the caretaker of the Machine himself, Moon Watterson. (Based on a series of crack lovechild memes)More information on the AU including designs and short bios for every one of these children can be found at https://www.deviantart.com/redqueenmiku/gallery/67230827/The-Great-S-T-O-R-K-Machine-AKA-dumb-kids





	1. The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> The S.T.O.R.K. Machine is a magical machine that summons two "parents" from anywhere and any time and spits out a child for them before sending them back to one of their own worlds. The "parents" are then tasked with taking care of and raising this child. That's how all these children came to be.
> 
> Each cycle contains new parent candidates, which get selected from to create children. The parents can be summoned at any age (for example, Gumball Watterson from cycle 1 was summoned at 12 years old). These children aren't created through true genetics, but rather the S.T.O.R.K. Machine using traits from each parent candidate in a pseudo-genetic fashion. There are no intimate relations involved in the creation of a S.T.O.R.K. child.
> 
> The worlds inhabited by S.T.O.R.K. children are known as S.T.O.R.K. worlds. A S.T.O.R.K. world can be inhabited by more than one S.T.O.R.K. child at a time. In fact, they often are.
> 
> S.T.O.R.K. children have innate connections to their parents beyond what a normal child would have. It’s the curious phenomenon that gives them similar fashion senses, personalities, or sensibilities to their parents, etc. Each S.T.O.R.K. child presents this quirk in a different way, but all of them have at least something.
> 
> S.T.O.R.K. children featured in this chapter: Moon Watterson, Skull Watterson, Sakura Orihara

He swung his legs slowly, his feet rhythmically pounding against the side of the old, wooden house. He was sitting up on the roof, his bony hands at his sides stroking the rough, black shingles. This house had been in his family for four generations, starting with his great grandparents. It was a comforting place to come back to, knowing that his father, his grandfather, and even his great grandparents had experienced the same struggles he'd gone through in the same town that had always been there, barely changing a bit.

“Moon?”

He looked down to find his father peering up at him through the bedroom window below.

“Yeah, dad?” Moon replied.

“Always up on top of the house,” his father sighed, “You make it hard for me to even come up there.”

“Sorry,” Moon said, jumping down to the part of the roof that started just below the window his father was peeking out of. His father recoiled in surprise, then leaned against the windowsill, staring at Moon.

“So,” his father asked, “how was school?”

“Same as always,” Moon answered, “Get to class, Simian yells at me for being late, sit through a boring lecture, break for lunch, come back for more lecturing, Simian assigns homework, we go home.”

“Sounds like Simian, all right,” his father chuckled. Moon had always found it incredible that Miss Simian had been teaching at Elmore Junior High since his great grandparents attended there. According to his father, some traditions never die and neither does Miss Simian.

“I'm just lucky I had Sakura around when you were growing up,” his father said, noticably slumping, though just a slight bit, “If it weren't for her, I don't know what I would have done.”

Moon exhaled through his teeth. Of course, he already knew his occurrence in this world was far from natural. He'd heard bits and pieces of a machine known as The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine: a machine that could summon two people from anywhere in any continuum and generate a child for them from thin air. That was how Moon had come about and even how his parents, Skull and Sakura, had come into existence.

Moon had come into his parents' lives when they both were still relatively young. His father was still in middle school and his mother was even a couple years younger than him. Sakura then took charge of taking care of Moon while Skull attended school. Moon's father had since graduated high school, leaving Sakura to catch up on her own missing years of education. Moon always felt guilty for the lives his parents had to lead because of him, even though they always assured him it was okay. It wasn't okay to Moon, though.

“You okay, Moon?”

Moon perked up, snapping out of his daze.

“Oh. I'm fine,” Moon replied, nervously tugging at the collar of his sweater. His father's brow furrowed, giving Moon a look that meant he knew Moon was lying.

“I'm totally fine. Really,” Moon continued, trying to appease his father, “I'm just--”

Suddenly, a loud sound not unlike an explosion tore through the evening calm, setting off multiple car alarms and knocking out the power lines. Immediately, the entire neighborhood was plunged into darkness punctuated by several discordant wails. Moon was taken aback, but his father shrugged the whole thing off with an exasperated sigh.

“It's always _something_ in this town, isn't it?” his father groaned, climbing out the window to join his son. Moon, though, quickly found himself captivated by the sky above them. Now, without the lights of the neighborhood, the sky could be lit up by an entire nebula of glittering stars. Moon felt his eyes sparkle as he took it all in. In an instant, Moon spread his wings wide, shooting up into the sky. He stayed up there for a solid minute, bobbing up and down with the flaps of his wings as he hovered amongst the stars. Finally, he started to descend until he landed back on the peak of the roof of his house; the exact place he started his night.

“Moon!” his father called up to him, “Don't leave  _me_ behind, here!”

Moon quickly snapped back into reality, shaking his head rapidly. He then focused his blue magic on his father's soul, pulling his father up onto the upper part of the room beside him. When he let go of his father's soul, he directed his gaze back up at the stars, completely fixated on them.

“I swear, I'll never get how you fly with those wings. They're nothing but bone,” his father remarked, “You fly fast too, just like your mother.”

“Have you ever seen so many stars?”

His father finally looked up.

“They're really pretty,” his father replied, “You know, some people say you can make wishes on stars.”

“Really?”

“That's what Sans always told me, anyway,” his father replied, referring to one of his own parents, “He said stars were magic and, if you told them your wishes, they would come true someday.”

Moon took a deep breath, his gaze unwavering.

_“I wish...Mom and Dad could be happy...”_

Just then, a shooting star whizzed across the star-scape, surprising Moon.

“A shooting star!” his father called out, pointing to where it had just crossed, “Those are supposed to be the most powerful.”

Moon's eyes lit up once more.

“You made your wish, right?”

“Yeah,” Moon replied, grinning widely.

_“and the stars will help me make sure it comes true...”_

 

* * *

 

“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!”

Moon darted out of the house as quickly as he could, still tugging his gray, skull-emblazoned sweater over his head as he ran. He skidded as he took the turn from the front walkway to the sidewalk, then tore down the sidewalk to the bus stop. His heart was pounding against his ribcage as he ran. It was only as he rounded the corner as he noticed the school bus just beginning to depart. Gritting his teeth, he opened his wings, taking off into the air. He flew as fast as he could, trying to catch up to the school bus as it accelerated.

“Faster...faster...fast--”

_WHAP!_

“GAH!!!”

Moon had slammed into an airborne duck while flying full-speed. The resulting impact sent Moon hurtling to the ground, clutching said duck firmly. He tumbled to a stop on the asphalt road below, staying completely still for a few minutes afterward just to try to register what had happened. The duck then struggled out of Moon's grip, wildly flapping its wings to get back in the air and eventually fly away.

Finally, Moon pushed himself back to his feet, wincing at a sharp pain in his left arm. He pushed up his sleeve to find, sure enough, his left humerus was fractured. He internally panicked, pulling out his phone to call his parents...only to see his own reflection in the inactive screen and realize he had a giant crack running down the left side of his face over his left eye socket. Blood was even beginning to ooze from within. He hissed through his teeth.

“I've gotta call dad...”

Moon turned on his phone, then froze. Something wasn't right. He slowly looked up from his phone to see a hooded figure staring at him ominously from down the street. A shiver shot up Moon's spine.

“Wh-who are you?”

The hooded figure was silent for a moment, then started to approach Moon. Moon fearfully summoned three Blasters around him in response. This was enough to get the figure to stop in their tracks.

“D-don't come any closer,” Moon snapped, “I'm armed. These are my Eclipse Blasters and they'll be more than happy to teach you a lesson if you try to mess with me.”

“I'm not here to hurt you, child.”

Moon's eyes widened and the Blasters dissipated into thin air.

“What?”

“I said, I'm not here to hurt you,” the figure repeated, their voice smooth and distinctly masculine, “I'm here to enlist your help.”

Moon's brow furrowed as he stared at the figure suspiciously.

“What _kind_ of help?”

“You're Moon Watterson, son of Skull Watterson and Sakura Orihara, correct?”

Moon tensed up. How did this person know so much about him?

“Y-yes,” Moon hesitantly replied.

“I need you for a very important task,” the figure explained, “This is an extremely important job; something that only someone as innately connected with the S.T.O.R.K. Machine as you are can accomplish.”

Moon's breath hitched as he stared at the figure in utter astonishment.

“The...S.T.O.R.K. Machine?”

“I will explain everything at our destination,” the figure replied, once again drawing closer to Moon. This time, though, Moon allowed him to get close.

“Wh-where are we going?” Moon asked. The figure didn't answer, only holding out his hand for Moon to grab. It was a dark-skinned hand, wrist adorned by a single gold band. Moon took a deep breath.

“I trust you.”

Moon then grabbed the figure's hand. He only had to blink afterward before everything changed around him. In the blink of an eye, the dingy streets of Elmore had disappeared. He and the figure were now in an ornate castle with stone walls and floors. An enormous rug was laid out across the gigantic room they were in and tapestries fluttered in the breeze provided by the tall, narrow openings in the walls serving as windows. The most noticeable thing in the room, though, was also the thing that kept Moon completely speechless as he gazed upon it: the unmistakable S.T.O.R.K. Machine. It bore two screens on its front and a multitude of different lights and switches. Toward the bottom of the front panel was a window that gave a view of the inner workings of the machine: a series of gears and other mechanisms.

“I-It's...”

"The Space-Time Outsourcing Redakteur-Kindermacher Machine,” the figure stated, “This is where the Machine dwells: a realm outside of space-time.”

“H-how???” Moon stuttered, completely overwhelmed.

“I believe it would be best if we talked over tea,” the figure said, starting to walk away, “It will help you to clear your head.”

 

* * *

 

Moon clutched the teacup in front of him tightly. His mysterious host sat across from him, having just sat down after serving Moon.

“Are you satisfied?”

Moon cocked his head slightly.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Are you content with what is occuring?” his host asked, pouring himself a cup of tea.

“Not completely,” Moon answered, deciding to play things off as professionally as he could, “For starters, I don't even know who you are.”

His host sighed, placing the teapot back onto the table.

“Those that see with eyes demand faces. Those that hear with ears demand names.”

Moon took a sip of tea, his eyes firmly fixed on his host. He then put the cup down, letting out a breath.

“Aren't you the one asking me to do something for you?” Moon finally said.

“Amenhemoft.”

“Excuse me?” Moon asked confusedly. His host then pulled the hood back from his face, giving moon his first good look at his host's face. Moon already knew he was a dark-skinned man, but his face spoke of an exotic heritage. His hair was jet-black and fell about his shoulders. Around his eyes was dark make-up. The strangest thing about him, though, was the clock face tattooed around one of his eyes. The hands of said clock pointed to a rather strange time, that being somewhere between 9:05 and 9:10.

“My name is Amenhemoft,” his host repeated, “Does that satisfy you?”

“Amen...hm?”

“Amen is fine, for now,” he said, looking just the slightest bit annoyed. Moon noted this. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries with this man.

“Is the S.T.O.R.K. Machine yours?” Moon asked.

“It is not,” Amen replied before taking a sip from his own cup.

“So whose is it?”

“It has no owner,” Amen said, “It exists on its own, apart from mortal ties.”

Moon let out a contemplative huff.

“So what is it you want me for?”

“The S.T.O.R.K. Machine needs a keeper,” Amen explained, “A caretaker, of sorts. I would like for you to be that keeper..”

“M-me?!” Moon exclaimed, “What makes you think _I_ could do the job?!”

“Like I said earlier,” Amen responded, “Only someone as innately connected with the S.T.O.R.K. Machine as you are can fulfill this role. You are a second-generation child of the S.T.O.R.K. Machine, so your ties to the Machine are stronger than anyone else's.

Moon fell silent, staring blankly at Amen.

“You...really think I'm up for this?”

“You are. I'm sure of it.”

“What about my parents?” Moon asked, “My school? My world?”

Amen sighed, placing his teacup back onto its saucer.

“You will still be able to see them,” Amen said, “but your duty will be here.”

“But, I--”

“I'm not taking no for an answer, Moon.”

Moon froze, his brow furrowed.

“You're the only one equipped for this job, Moon.”

“Wh-what about you?!” Moon exclaimed, “You can do it, can't you?!”

“Unfortunately, I cannot,” Amen answered, “I have more pressing matters that require my attention. Inevitably, there will come a time when the realms of the S.T.O.R.K. Machine are placed into grave danger and I will not be able to be here to stop it. That is why I need you, Moon.”

Moon shuddered.

“I only give my name to those whom I intend to closely work beside,” Amen continued, “I've trusted you enough to give you this honor. Will you accept my request?”

Moon glanced back to where the S.T.O.R.K. Machine was, thoughts running through his head at a mile a minute.

“You said 'realms', right?” Moon asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“The timelines created by the S.T.O.R.K. Machine to house the children it creates,” Amen said, “There are a great many of them. It's a large task to maintain all of them.”

Moon took a breath.

“You will be able to visit every one of these worlds, of course,” Amen continued, “That is the benefit of the role you're being given. Wherever there is a child of the S.T.O.R.K. Machine, you will be able to go there.”

“So I can visit the worlds my parents lived in in the past?”

Amen cocked his head curiously.

“If that is what you wish,” Amen replied, “It is certainly possible. You won't be able to jump through time within S.T.O.R.K. worlds, but there are worlds where your parents exist on their own, yes.”

Moon slammed his hands on the table anxiously, standing up.

“I want to go there!” he shouted without thinking, “I want to go there and see them!”

Amen looked taken aback. After a second of silence, he stood, taking a pair of reading glasses out from under his cloak and rubbing the lenses with the cloak before putting them on.

“Moon Watterson,” he said, holding out his hand to Moon once more, “I believe this is the beginning of a wonderful partnership.”

Moon stared at Amen in wonder, then reached his own hand out to Amen. The two shook hands, then Amen stepped back, turning away from Moon.

“Thank you so much for your cooperation, Moon,” he said, pulling his hood back over his head, “I am confident in your ability to perform this task to utmost perfection.”

Moon suddenly felt a pulsating warmth in his chest, which radiated through to his arm and his face. He then immediately remembered his injuries. He pulled his phone out as the warmth faded, finding that the crack on his face was now gone.

“I have given you the power required to jump between the different S.T.O.R.K timestreams,” Amen explained, “It has also healed your wounds.”

“Th-thank you...” Moon muttered, still in complete awe.

“I'll be taking my leave now,” Amen said, “I bid you farewell, Moon.”

Moon was about to reply when, suddenly, he noticed four slender tails unfurl from beneath Amen's cloak. Moon was stunned, taking an involuntary step back.

“May our paths cross once again.”

As Amen spoke his final line, he turned back to Moon. Though the turn was only slight, Moon could barely catch a tan-furred snout peeking out from Amen's hood. Before Moon could even ask what was going on, however, Amen disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Moon alone in the S.T.O.R.K. Machine's enormous castle. Moon stared at the spot where Amen had just been standing for a moment longer, trying to take in what had just happened.

“ _I guess...this is what I'm doing now...”_

 

* * *

 

Moon reappeared, touching down on the same street he'd fallen down to just before he met Amen. It was sunset now, and the sky was tinted a bright orange. Moon wasn't aware that he'd been gone this long.

“Guess I should be getting home...”

He spread his wings, lifting off into the sky. As he flew, he found himself completely lost in thought. After Amen had left, Moon had taken the liberty of exploring the huge castle that housed the S.T.O.R.K. Machine. He hadn't gone to any of the other S.T.O.R.K. worlds, though. He felt like he wasn't quite ready for that yet. One step at a time, he told himself.

He finally landed in front of his house. Surprisingly, his mother was sitting outside on the porch, supposedly waiting for him. When she saw him, her eyes lit up and she raced toward him at top speed, almost tackling him over with her hug.

“Mom!” Moon exclaimed, “What--?”

“Where the heck have you been?”

Moon froze, finally realizing that, in everyone else's eyes, he had just disappeared for the entire day, skipping school entirely.

“I-I...met this guy,” Moon shakily explained, “H-he took me to this place and...he gave me a job.”

His mother pulled back, meeting his gaze with a cold glare.

“Really?” she said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Yeah,” Moon continued, feeling more and more unsure of himself by the second, “I-I'm...going to be protecting the S.T.O.R.K. Machine.”

His mother's eyes narrowed.

“Really?” she said again, her tone growing more incredulous by the second, “What does _that_ mean?”

“I-I'm not lying! I swear!” Moon replied, “All this really happened! I met this man named Amen and he told me it was my duty to protect the S.T.O.R.K. Machine! Honest!”

“Protect it from _what?”_

“From...”

Moon trailed off, trembling.

“...I...don't know...”

“Do you know how worried _sick_ we were when your teacher called and told us you'd skipped school?” his mother snapped, “Then you come back and give me a sorry _excuse_? You're better than this, Moon!”

“B-but I swear, it really happened! I--!”

“Enough.”

Moon stopped short, tears in his eyes.

“You're going to go to your room and think about what you've done,” his mother ordered, “Then, you're going to come back downstairs and tell me the truth about what you've been doing all day. No more lying.”

“B-but--!”

“No buts, Moon! Go!”

Moon stepped back, spreading his wings defensively.

“Moon,” his mother started, spreading her wings as well, “You'd better not think about--”

Moon immediately shot into the air, landing with a thud on the roof behind his mother. He then threw open his bedroom window from the outside, crawling in before slamming it shut again and locking it. He shut and locked his bedroom door, then threw himself onto his bed and started to cry. He could only hope that, at some point, his mother would see that he really was telling the truth.


	2. The Great S.T.O.R.K. Machine (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The S.T.O.R.K. Machine is a magical machine that summons two "parents" from anywhere and any time and spits out a child for them before sending them back to one of their own worlds. The "parents" are then tasked with taking care of and raising this child. That's how all these children came to be.
> 
> Each cycle contains new parent candidates, which get selected from to create children. The parents can be summoned at any age (for example, Gumball Watterson from cycle 1 was summoned at 12 years old). These children aren't created through true genetics, but rather the S.T.O.R.K. Machine using traits from each parent candidate in a pseudo-genetic fashion. There are no intimate relations involved in the creation of a S.T.O.R.K. child.
> 
> The worlds inhabited by S.T.O.R.K. children are known as S.T.O.R.K. worlds. A S.T.O.R.K. world can be inhabited by more than one S.T.O.R.K. child at a time. In fact, they often are.
> 
> S.T.O.R.K. children have innate connections to their parents beyond what a normal child would have. It’s the curious phenomenon that gives them similar fashion senses, personalities, or sensibilities to their parents, etc. Each S.T.O.R.K. child presents this quirk in a different way, but all of them have at least something.
> 
> S.T.O.R.K. children featured in this chapter: Moon Watterson, Skull Watterson, Sakura Orihara

“And so, that means that the square root of this number here would also be equal to the fraction on this side of the equation here.”

Miss Simian accentuated her point by hastily drawing a line across the board. Moon was hardly paying attention to her half-hearted lecture, though. Instead, he was struggling to keep his eyes open, head bobbing wearily.

Pushing himself like this probably wasn't a good idea.

He'd figured that out for himself after the first few harrowing nights, but what other choice did he have? He needed to use his nights to take care of the S.T.O.R.K. Machine. If he didn't go to school, his parents would be furious.

That first night hadn't gone nearly as well has Moon had hoped, even after his first fight with his mother. After a couple hours of sitting alone in his room, he'd been called downstairs. He'd tried to explain to both his mother and father what really happened, but, once again, no matter how much Moon insisted, they still thought he was lying. He'd ended up crying himself to sleep that night.

He'd only skipped school one other time after that. His parents had reacted even more poorly to that. That was when Moon decided that he could only go at night and on weekends. After all, if he didn't go, he'd be letting Amen down and that was the last thing he wanted to do after Amen had decided to trust him. It had meant a lot of near-sleepless nights for Moon, though.

“Watterson!”

Moon yelped, jerking his head back up. He'd fallen asleep again and Miss Simian was clearly angry about it. His classmates snickered, glancing back at him. He shrank back, face growing flush.

“I'm sorry, Miss Simian,” Moon uttered shakily. Simian hissed irritatedly, pointing to the door of the classroom. Moon knew exactly what that meant. He hesitantly rose from his seat, hanging his head ashamedly as he started to leave the classroom. As he made his way down the hall to the principal's office, he sighed, nerves frazzled. He'd lost count how many times this had happened now.

Finally, he reached the principal's office, pushing the door open slowly.

“P-Principal Brown?”

The furry, brown creature perked up from behind his desk, his glasses falling slightly off his face. He adjusted them quickly as he gathered himself.

“Moon Watterson,” Brown sighed, “Let me guess. You fell asleep in class again?”

Moon nodded slowly, stepping forward to sit in one of the chairs positioned in front of Principal Brown's desk. Brown grunted exasperatedly, tenting his hands under his...chin? Moon was never quite sure of where Principal Brown's actual features were underneath all that hair.

“Four generations of Wattersons at this school and not a single one of them can keep themselves out of trouble...”

“Please don't tell my parents,” Moon pleaded.

“I don't know how much longer I can keep this quiet, Watterson,” Brown replied sternly, “You keep promising you'll get better, but you're just getting worse. At this point, I feel like I don't have a choice.”

“No, no, no!” Moon cried, “You don't understand! _They_ don't understand! You have to believe me! It'll pass! I'll get better!”

“I'm not doing this to get you in trouble with your parents,” Brown said, picking up his phone, “I'm doing this because I'm genuinely worried about you. Not getting enough sleep can be extremely detrimental, Moon. I want you to understand that.”

“Principal Brown!”

Moon barely noticed himself lunge forward, grabbing the phone out of his principal's hand. Brown reeled back, Moon positioned precariously over him. Moon froze, staring down at Principal Brown.

“I..I-I...”

“Watterson,” Brown snapped, “Give me the phone.”

Moon felt a pit form in his stomach as he slowly handed the phone back to Principal Brown. As he backed away, tears formed at the corners of his eye sockets, quickly spilling over.

“P-please,” Moon begged, finally sitting down again, “Th-they're not going to understand. N-no one is.”

Brown scoffed, starting to dial Moon's parents. Moon exhaled shakily. He could already tell that, whatever was coming next, it wasn't going to end well.

 

* * *

 

 

Moon anxiously wrung his hands, still seated in front of Principal Brown. Brown had called Moon's parents and asked for them to come to the school for a talk. Any moment now, they would come through the door directly behind Moon...and Moon would have to once again try to explain himself.

By this point, Moon had already given up trying to convince his parents that he was the new caretaker to the S.T.O.R.K. Machine. Instead, and quite ironically in fact, he'd been lying through his teeth to try to make them think he was being truthful with them. There were nights where he'd be gone through dinner, then tell his parents he'd gone to dinner at a friend's house, only to then sneak a midnight snack before going back to the S.T.O.R.K. castle again in the middle of the night after his parents had already gone to bed. He'd often lock himself in his room under the guise of doing homework, then leave, coming back hours later. He hated lying to his parents like this, but he had to do it. There was no other way.

Suddenly, the door opened, startling Moon. Dread welled up inside him as his parents entered, their disappointment in their son already evident.

“Mr. and Mrs. Watterson,” Principal Brown said with a nod, “Please, sit down.”

“That would be Mister Watterson and Miss Orihara, sir,” Moon's mother corrected him, “We aren't married.”

“What's going on?” Moon's father asked.

“Well,” Brown started, “Your son has been falling asleep in class constantly. I wanted to keep him from engaging in unhealthy practices like staying up late into the night and such.”

“Moon?!” his mother exclaimed, looking to her son, “How late are you staying up?!”

Moon hissed almost silently, slowly shifting his gaze to his mother. His wide, trembling eyes gave away his fear immediately.

“It's not good for you to stay up like that,” his father scolded, “Your body needs sleep.”

“Well, I know what I'm doing about this,” his mother said, crossing her arms, “I'm installing a camera in Moon's room.”

“What?!” both Moon and his father exclaimed at once.

“If there's a camera in there, Moon won't even think about staying up!” his mother explained to his father, “Unless you have a better solution, that's what's going to happen.”

Moon was starting to panic. If his mother actually went through with this, there was no way Moon was going to be able to find time for his duties at the S.T.O.R.K. castle.

“All right,” his father replied with a sigh, “We'll get a camera.”

“You can't!”

Moon immediately covered his mouth as his parents' gazes snapped in his direction.

“Moon,” his mother started, “We're doing this for your own good. You can't stay up so late. It's not good for you.”

“What's so important that you need to stay up that late anyway?”

Moon shuddered. He knew this question was coming. He sighed shakily, starting to cry again.

“You...don't believe me...”

“What?” his mother said, inching closer, “What don't we believe you about?”

“You don't believe me,” Moon repeated, “You don't believe me, so I have to go late at night when you're not awake so you can't find out I left.”

He'd finally decided he was going to be truthful. He was going to convince his parents of this today. There was no other option now.

“Left?!” his mother exclaimed, “You're sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night?! Where the heck are you going?!”

“I told you already, but you don't believe me,” Moon continued, “I'm the caretaker of the S.T.O.R.K. Machine now. I have to go take care of it every day.”

His mother's brow furrowed as her expression fell. Moon gulped nervously. It was do or die time now.

“Moon,” his mother growled, “This again? You know you're lying to us.”

“I'm not lying! I swear!” Moon started, going on the defensive, “I've been doing this every night for the past month! I have to perform a regular series of maintenance checks to make sure nothing happens to the machine!”

“Just give it up, Moon,” his father said sternly, “You know this excuse doesn't work.”

“It's not an excuse!” Moon retorted, “You have to believe me! I--!”

“Be quiet, Moon,” his mother snapped, cutting Moon off, “I'm not hearing any of that again.”

Moon tensed up, his blood starting to boil.

“No, you be quiet!”

His mother reeled back.

“Moon--!”

“Just shut up!” Moon shouted, his fear slowly melting with a burst of rage-filled adrenaline, “I've had enough! You know how much sleep I actually got last night?! Two hours! Why?! Because the stupid S.T.O.R.K. Machine ate my homework while I was checking the internal mechanisms! I had to scramble to do it over again so I could get even a miniscule amount of sleep! I shouldn't have to be doing this in the middle of the night, but I do! I have to do it this way because no one freaking believes me!”

“Stop it, Moon!” his father snapped, “Calm yourself down!”

“It doesn't even stop there!” Moon continued, ignoring his father, “Two days ago, when I told you I was having dinner with a friend, I was actually working on the S.T.O.R.K. Machine! I didn't even get to eat that night! You know how horrible that was?! Is this what you want for your son?!”

“Just stop it, Moon!” his mother yelled.

“I'm not stopping! I can't stop! You don't understand how badly this has been tearing me apart! I'm not okay, but I have to keep pretending like I am just to keep you two happy! I'm having to live two completely separate lives! Do you know how hard tha--?!”

_SMACK!_

Moon yelped in pain as his mother's palm suddenly slammed against his face, sending the young skeleton reeling. He had to grab the arm of his chair tightly to keep from falling over onto the floor. His thoughts blurred together as the tears started to roll once more.

“Sakura!”

“Get a hold of yourself, Moon!” his mother snarled, “You need to stop acting like this!”

Moon trembled, his watery eyes fixed on the floor.

“M-Miss...Orihara, was it?” Principal Brown finally spoke up, “I don't believe--”

“Don't you tell me how to raise my son!” Moon's mother snapped.

“Just leave him alone for now, Sakura,” his father interjected, “We'll deal with this properly when we get home.”

Moon locked up. Of course, his father wasn't on his side either. Moon knew what was going to happen. His parents weren't going to let him have another word about the matter. They were probably going to ground him. If that happened...

...

was he going to let it happen?

Moon was starting to question himself now. Why was he letting his parents have their way when he knew they were wrong? Why was he sneaking about in the dead of night when he shouldn't have to?

Why was he trying to live two lives?

That thought stuck in his mind, even after his parents stood up from their seats. Plans started to formulate in his mind...desperate plans with grim outcomes.

“Come on, Moon,” his mother spoke up, “We're going home.”

If he did this, there was no going back.

“Moon?”

“I don't need to be here.”

“What?” his mother asked confusedly. Moon exhaled slowly, pushing himself to his feet. His pupils had faded out of his eye sockets, leaving them a haunting pitch-black.

“I don't need to be here anymore.”

Moon shut his eyes tightly, snapping his fingers to teleport himself away. He could just barely hear his parents scream his name as he left. When he opened his eyes, he was in the S.T.O.R.K. Machine's castle, the enormous machine looming right in front of his face. He stayed completely still for a moment, trying to let his mind catch up to what he'd just done.

“...What have I done?”

He'd actually done it. He'd thrown his entire life away for the S.T.O.R.K. Machine. He threw away his education...his friends...his parents...everything.

“I...I...”

Finally, he collapsed to the floor, sobbing. He knew exactly what he'd done. He'd finally pulled the trigger he should have pulled day one. He wasn't going to burden his parents with this new life of his. He wasn't going to put his parents through dealing with him anymore.

 

* * *

 

Moon stood on top of the castle's tallest spire, looking out into the vast starry expanse of the infinite sky around him. He pulled his black, fur-lined jacket tightly around his shoulders. In his right hand, he held his old, gray sweater, which had been exchanged for the blue, pink-trimmed dress shirt and heavy, black jacket he started wearing after starting his new life here at the S.T.O.R.K. Machine's castle. For him, the sweater only reminded him of his old life. He'd like to forget about all that as much as possible.

It had been an incredibly weighty decision he'd made that day: leaving everything he had behind for the job that Amen had given him. He knew, however, that continuing to try to balance his old life with his new one would only cause him and everyone around him grief. It had been several months since then, but the scars from the final fight Moon had with his parents still remained on his conscience. He wasn't going to dare to go back, though. He didn't think he'd be able to take it.

Just then, Moon's train of thought was cut short by the appearance of a shooting star streaking across the sky in front of him, leaving a vivid trail of stardust behind it. Moon felt a single tear slip down his cheek.

_“I wish Mom and Dad could be happy...”_

He then tossed the the sweater as far as he could. A sudden strong gust of wind caught him off guard directly afterward, causing him to yelp in surprise. The gust caught the sweater, carrying it beyond the perimeter of the castle and ensuring its descent into the vast, starry abyss. Moon sighed, wiping away his tears with the sleeve of his jacket. He then spread his wings, taking in the view one more time...

...before vaulting himself forward and flying back down to his home.


End file.
